Method of preparing brewing-waters.



MAX WALLERSTEIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

METHOD OF PREPARING BREWING-WATERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1908.

Application filed June 21. 1907- Serial No. 380.159.

as applied to the preparation. of brewing waters, but it is also adapted for use in connection with non-fermented beverages, and particularly carbonated beverages, as soda waters, ginger ale, carbonated mineral waters and the like.

It is well known that the waters of certain districts are adapted for the production of ales and beers having peculiar and characteristic qualities thus the waters of Burtonon-Trent have long been renowned for yield',

ing excellent pale ales, and the waters at Munich produce excellent beers. In other districts waters are found which are admirably adapted for the roduction of special and characteristic prod ucts. U on investigation it has been found that t e chemical composition of these waters bears a constant relation to their behavior in brewing opera tions. For instance the Burton waters are found to contain relatively large proportions of calcium sulfate, and their excellence for the production of that articular class of ales for which the district is famed is largely attributable-to the presence of this salt.

Attem ts have been made to reproduce the pecu iar effects of the Burton and other 'waters by adding to other natural waters the indicated ingredients required to imitate their chemical com osition, but such efforts have been invariab y unsatisfactory. Thus efforts have been made to imitate the Burton ales by the addition to water used in brewing of definite proportions of plaster of paris;

the product, however, has been found to be very impure and to be extremely variable in character so that even if uniform quantities of plaster of aris were added, varying amounts of calcium sulfate would go into solution. Furthermore mechanical difficulties arise owing to the high density and slow rate of solution of the plaster of paris, the result being that the compound, whether added in the cold or hot water tank, settles quickly to the bottom and leaves an undissolved residue which is highly prejudicial in subsequent operations. Its use therefore involves special apparatus and serious interference with the brewing operation, and for these reasons has not met with favor. It has also been proposed to add to the water used for brewing, pure calcium sulfate, but by reason of the interference of this salt, in its commercial form, with the subsequent operations, by reason of its slow rate of solution, its use has not met with favor.

I have discovered that ales and beers of peculiar excellence may be produced by adding to the water to be employed in their preparation definite proportions of calcium sulfate prepared in the manner hereinafter described, or of mixtures of mineral salts containing calcium sulfate so prepared.

When calcium sulfate is precipitated from aqueous solutions by the usual methods, as for instance by mixing a sufficiently concentrated solution of a calcium salt, as calcium chlorid, with a soluble normal ,or acid sulfate orwith sulfuric acid, the calcium sulfate separates as an extremely finely divided precipitate which appears under the microscope in the form of minute needle like crystals. I have discovered however that by effecting the precipitation in the presence of small proportions of a colloidal substance capable of serving as a restraining or retarding agent the recipitate separates much more slowly an differs in character from the needle-like crystals above mentioned, appearing under the microscope in the form of plates or tablet-like crystals of relatively large size. These crys' tals are found to separate very readily from the mother-liquor under the ordinary conditions of filter-pressing, and to be easily Washed and dried: They are found also to possess a high solution rate, the above characteristics rendering them particularly suitable for certain purposes, as for the prepara tion of brewing waters.

I may proceed substantially as follows: To a solution of a suitable calcium salt, as calcium chlorid, which may be of any desired strength but is preferably quite concentrated, say ten to twenty'p'er cent. I add a suitable colloidal substance, as gelatin, from one to five ounces of gelatin being preferably added to each thirty gallons of the solution, the proportion increasing with the concentration of the chlo'rid solution.

There is then mixed with the chlorid solution in the proportion required to combine with the calcium therein, a solution of a suitable sulfate, as the normal or acid sulfate of sodium, or sulfuric acid, and the mixture is permitted to stand'until recipitation is complete, the precipitation being aided by heating if desired. In some cases I refer to add the gelatin or equivalent co loidal substance both to the solution of the calcium salt and to that of the sulfate. In either case the calcium sulfate will be found to separate in the plate-like crystals above referred to, subsiding quickly in the. solution and readily separable therefrom.

Instead of gelatin I may emplo other albuminoid substances, possessing li e gelatine the roperty of retarding the crystallization an determining the se aration of the calcium sulfate in the form above described. Together with calcium sulfate prepared as above described I prefer to use, more particularly in the preparation of brewing waters, ap ropriate quantities of the chlorids of ca cium, magnesium, otassium and sodium or equivalent minera salts. The quantity of each ingredient, and the relative pro- I portion of each, will vary accordin to the character of the water'to be-treate and of the product to be manufactured. A specific example of the proportions of-the various ingredients suitable for brewing waters is as follows: -65 parts of calcium sulfate prepared as above described; 15 parts of calcium chlorid; 5 parts of magnesium cblorid;

10 parts of sodium chlorid; and 10 parts of potassium chlorid. For the majority of natural waters one pound. of the above mixture may be added to two hundred to three hundred gallons ofthe water. The ingredients accompanying the calcium sulfate serve to accelerate its solution, to increase its total solubility, and also .in the case of fermented beverages, to exert a favorable influence on the fermentation. In all cases the beverage is found to be exceptionally bright, clear and palatable, and

to retain these properties for indefinite periods.

The method of preparing calcium sulfate in plate-like crystals as herein described is claimed in my copending application, Ser. No. 380,160, filed June 21, 1907.

I claim:

1. The method of treating water for the preparation of beverages which consists in precipitating calcium sulfate in presence of a colloidal retarding agent, and dissolving the precipitate in water in the required proportion.

preparation of beverages which consists in preci itating calcium sulfate in presence of a col oidal retarding agent, separating the precipitate, mixing therewith salts capable of accelerating its solution and modifying its action, and dissolving the mixture in Water in the re uired proportion.

3. The metho of treating water for the preparation of beverages which consists in precipitating calcium sulfate in presence of. a' colloidal retarding agent, separatin the precipitate, mixing therewith chlori s of alkali or alkali earth metals, and dissolving the mixture in water'in the required proportion.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses. MAX WALLERSTEIN.

. Witnesses: l

CLINTON P. TOWNSEND, CHARLES H. POTTER 2. The method of treating water for the 

